Nayia Petridou, my yiayia (grandmother — γιαγιά), was born on June 6th, 1933, and grew up in Lefka, Cyprus. She was raised by her widowed mother, Eleni — a strong woman of her time, who worked as a kindergarten teacher. Eleni enrolled yiayia and her twin sister in the American Academy boarding school for all academic years, due to her job requiring moving from one school location to the other.

Nayia’s childhood and adulthood unfolded during a period of intense political change in Cyprus. The island saw growing divides between Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities, with the Greek Cypriots pushing for enosis — a union with Greece — encouraged by the Christian Orthodox Church. In 1954, the EOKA movement emerged: a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla group fighting to end British colonial rule.
 

Her first job was at the British Military base — a controversial choice given the events of that time. While working there, EOKA members (or perhaps nationalists unaffiliated with the organization) attempted to persuade her to smuggle small explosives onto the base. Her response was clear: “I am working for what I want to achieve in my life and for my family. I am not working for either Greece or England” denoting she would never take part in such actions. She kept this encounter a secret, never revealing the young man’s offer until the day of our interview.
 

She married my pappou (grandpa — παππούς) and had two daughters, Maria and Angela, all while continuing her job as a secretary at the British Military. At the time, an old British law required women to leave their jobs after giving birth to stay home and care for their families. My yiayia managed to keep her first pregnancy a secret, but after her second daughter was born, she left her job, this time at my grandpa’s insistence, not wanting other women to raise their children.

Women of her generation were expected to devote their lives to their families and homes. But once yiayia had raised her daughters, she began travelling the world with her twin sister, Sofoula. From Europe to Canada, Australia, and South Africa, her stories about the cultures she encountered never cease to amaze me.